UC-Irvine Names Leader of Planned School of Population Health

Bernadette Boden-Albala, Dr.P.H., associate dean of research and program development at New York University’s College of Global Public Health, has been named the director and founding dean of the University of California, Irvine’s (UCI’s) planned School of Population Health, effective July 1.

UCI is creating one of the few schools of its kind in the nation to harness the power of genomics, big data and technology to improve the health of entire populations, said Steven Goldstein, M.D., UCI vice chancellor of health affairs, in a prepared statement. “Population health will be a key pillar of the college, and Dr. Boden-Albala is the right person to lead this audacious effort.”

The proposal for the School of Population Health is expected to reach the UC Board of Regents for final review and approval within two years.

Goldstein himself was recently named to his position to guide the development of the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, formed last year with a gift of $200 million, the largest in UCI’s history. He will lead the School of Medicine, the Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing, the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Program in Public Health and UCI Health, the region’s only academic health system, which includes the UCI Medical Center and affiliated healthcare offices.

An expert in the social epidemiology of stroke and cardiovascular disease, Boden-Albala specializes in the design of strategies for prevention and preparedness. In a recent clinical study, Boden-Albala worked with New York City’s Dominican community to demonstrate that a culturally tailored, skills-based approach helped stroke patients significantly lower their blood pressure one year later – which should translate into a nearly 40 percent reduction in the risk of having another stroke.

A professor of public health, neurology and dentistry at NYU, she also served as interim chair of the Department of Epidemiology.